Chapter 34
“Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?”
At Ethan’s question, Maggie looked from the window to him. His fingers were so tight around the wheel that his knuckles were white.
She reached over and touched his thigh, his powerful muscles rippling beneath her palm. “It’s been a week.” She’d mostly worked on her business, all from Ethan’s house. She was ready to get out and go to Bloom. More than ready.
“You’d still be on bed rest if it was up to me,” Ethan almost growled.
“There’s no need for that. Besides, we’re not going to run a marathon. We’re having a drink and a croissant.”
A steaming hot cup of Polly’s matcha. She could not wait. Polly had brought a few to Ethan’s house, but nothing beat freshly made at the café.
He set his hand over hers and squeezed, mumbling a half acknowledgment that maybe she was right.
She studied the hard set of his jaw. “How are you?”
She’d asked him so many times over the last seven days that she’d lost count, and he’d always given half responses. Kind of answering her question without completely answering.
“I’m glad Nel’s behind bars,” he finally said.
See? That didn’t really answer her question. “Have you accepted that none of it’s your fault?”
He pulled over in front of Bloom. Instead of answering, he lifted her hand and kissed the back of it before climbing out.
Oh no, she was not letting him off the hook that easily.
She climbed out to find him already outside her door. “I need to hear you say it, Ethan.”
“Say what?”
She lifted a brow.
There was a small twitch of his lips as he curved an arm around her waist. “What will you give me if I do?”
“Say it and find out.”
“It wasn’t completely my fault.” He lowered his mouth.
She turned her head before he could kiss her. “Nope. That’s not good enough.”
“Hm.” His mouth trailed down her neck to a sensitive spot behind her ear. “I mean, this is great too.”
“Ethan.” She leaned back and gave him an I-need-your-words look.
There was a pause, then he sighed. “It wasn’t my fault.”
“No, it wasn’t. Any of it.”
“I should have found what Jay found. I’m good at getting information.”
“You didn’t know to look there.”
“Yet Jay did.”
Maggie lifted a shoulder. “Jay’s a woman. We’re hardwired to mistrust other women. Especially women who were or are interested in the men we care about.”
He met her eyes. “Do I get my reward now?”
She frowned, like she was thinking about it.
He growled before lowering his head, and this time, he kissed her. God, it was just like every other. Passionate. Consuming. Filled with every ounce of love they both shared for each other.
“Get a room.”
And there was reality.
Maggie grinned as she pulled back to see Joel walking toward them.
He lifted a shoulder as he stopped. “Or don’t.”
Ethan took her hand, eyes narrowed on his friend. “You’re late.”
“Says the couple still outside.”
“Come on.” She tugged Ethan toward Bloom.
When they stepped inside, it was to see Ryan, Connor, and Zac already sitting at a corner table. Polly was talking to Maureen in the flower section near the door.
She turned to Ethan. “I’m going to talk to Polly.”
“Don’t take long.” He leaned down and kissed her. It was just a quick peck this time, but any kiss from this man was far more distracting than it should be.
“Sorry, Maureen, I still plan to renovate my office,” Polly said, as Maggie joined the women.
Maggie smiled. “Hey.”
Polly looked at Maggie. “Maureen thinks I should leave Bloom as it is.”
“I didn’t say that.” Maureen lifted a tulip to her nose. “I simply said that you have to be careful of what you disturb when renovating old buildings.”
Polly frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means when you peel back layers, you might find more behind them than you bargained for.” She patted Polly’s shoulder before heading to the counter, tulip in hand.
Polly turned to Maggie. “Are you worried about her? I’m worried about her.”
“Maureen’s happiest in her own little world.”
“You’re right. Maybe I need a crazy little world of my own.”
“Can I join you?”
“Absolutely not. You’d miss Ethan and that would pop my happy bubble.”
She chuckled, then quickly sobered. “How are you doing with your mother’s engagement?”
Polly scoffed and grabbed a few books from empty tables, taking them to the shelves at the back of the shop. “That’s not happening.”
“The wedding’s off?”
“It will be.”
“Polly—”
Her friend spun back to her. “Do you know which number marriage this would be?”
“Four?”
“Five. And not one of them has lasted longer than a year.”
Maggie lifted a shoulder. “What can you do though? It’s your mother’s life.”
“I can…” Polly stopped abruptly, her gaze catching on something by the door.
Maggie followed her line of sight to see Lilith stepping into the shop.
Usually, the woman had an immediate effect on her. A tight chest. Shortening of her breath. But now? Nothing.
Polly touched her shoulder. “I’ll ask her to leave.”
“No.” Maggie shook her head. The older woman looked at her, then back to the counter. “I want to see if she talks to me. And if she does, what she says.”
Had Lilith thought about what Maggie had said that day? Had she even cared?
Lilith paid at the counter, then turned toward Maggie and headed her way.
“Do you want me to stay?” Polly asked quietly.
Maggie shook her head. “I’ll be okay.”
As Polly moved back to the counter, Maggie caught Ethan’s gaze. He was watching her closely, looking moments from jumping in and saving her.
But she didn’t need saving. She shook her head, a small smile on her face to tell him she was okay.
Lilith stopped in front of her. “Hi, Maggie.”
“Lilith.”
Her aunt swallowed. “How are you after…everything that happened?”
“Better than I was a week ago.”
She nodded. “Good. I, um…meant to call, but I didn’t know what to say.”
Maggie almost laughed. A simple “I hope you’re okay” would have been better than nothing. But then, Maggie had never expected it. She didn’t expect anything from her aunt.
Lilith straightened the strap of the bag on her shoulder. “I’ve also been thinking about what you said. And you’re right. I haven’t been a good aunt to you. I haven’t been a good anything. Your mother…she was my best friend. And I couldn’t look at you without blaming you. And…it was wrong.”
“It was wrong.” There was no sidestepping that fact. Lilith had blamed a child for something that was in no way her fault.
“I know that me saying this doesn’t change anything,” Lilith said quickly. “I know I let you down at a time when you really needed me. I just want you to know that I understand I was wrong. That I was awful. That you deserved better. I’m going to try to do better.”
It was too late for Lilith to be any kind of family member. Heck, it was too late for them to have any relationship at all. But if she was saying that she’d stop throwing insults and hurtful words Maggie’s way every time she saw her, then she’d take it.
“I appreciate you saying that.”
Lilith dipped her head. “I wish you well, Maggie. Maybe one day I can somehow mend what I damaged.”
That wouldn’t be easy, and they both knew it.
“I’ll see you later.” Lilith turned, grabbed her to-go cup from the counter, and left Bloom.
Her aunt had barely stepped away when Ethan was up and walking toward her. “Are you okay?”
“I am.” She traced the green specks in Ethan’s eyes. “Because I have you. I have Polly. And I’ve learned that family isn’t always blood. It’s the people who love us.”
His arms slid around her waist. “I do. Love you.”
“I’ve loved you since before I completely knew what love was, Ethan. I’ve loved you from the other side of the country, when there was so much distance between us you should have been the furthest thing from my mind.”
“You’ve always been on my mind. I don’t know how not to think about you.”
She tugged him down and touched her forehead to his. “Thank God I don’t have to love you from afar anymore.”
“Thank God.”
Ethan kept his eyes on Maggie, who was behind the counter with Polly. The two women were talking. Laughing. And the smile on Maggie’s face almost lifted the weight that had been pressing on his chest since she’d been taken. Since he’d pulled her out of the water, her body limp and unresponsive.
“Are you okay?”
He turned to look at Connor beside him. “I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from pulling her from the river. For a moment, I thought…” Shit. He couldn’t finish the sentence. He couldn’t even think about finishing it.
Connor leaned closer. “She’s alive.”
Ethan nodded, gaze going back to her one more time before scanning the room. David Collins sat near the books, coffee and novel in front of him. As usual, he was alone and, other than ordering his drink, he hadn’t spoken to a single person.
Anika and Mark sat at another table. They were obviously having a good relationship day, because she was leaning over the table, touching his hand, and he had a lazy grin on his face.
Maureen was talking to Deputy Cox near the door, a tulip in hand.
He knew just about everyone who lived here. And the responsibility to keep them safe felt heavy.
“You ready to talk about what you found?” Ryan asked from the other side of the table.
His team went quiet, everyone’s eyes going to Ethan. They’d chosen a corner table for privacy. Others didn’t need to know what they were discussing.
He pulled out his phone and opened the list before setting it in the center of the table.
“Francie Collins, David Collins’s wife. Went missing twenty-five years ago.
Never found.” He shot a look to David Collins in the corner, but the man didn’t look up.
“Opal Sinclair, Maggie’s mother, found dead in the water, drugs in her system, twenty-three years ago.
Lila Wren, a tourist, missing for fifteen years.
Eileen Baker, a local missing for ten. And Fern Paley, a local, found dead in the water, drugs in her system, six years ago. ”
He remembered each of them off the top of his head. Five women. All missing or found dead. All in their forest.
“That’s a woman taken every two to six years.” His jaw clicked.
“And none of them declared a homicide?” Zac asked.
“None.”
“In general, there are a fair number of disappearances of tourists in forests like the one here in Deep River,” Ryan said, voice grim. “People go missing in the woods. That, in combination with the time that passed between these events, made it easy for them to go unnoticed.”
Ethan nodded. “Exactly. But now we’ve had three women go missing, one of those found dead, in the last year.”
“That’s a huge escalation from the killer,” Joel growled.
Zac leaned back, scrubbing a hand over his face. “This is a fucking serial killer.”
“One that’s been around for decades,” Ryan added.
“What about this anonymous donor?” Connor asked. “Maybe this person figured it out and is sick of Ward not doing anything.”
“It’s possible.” Ethan looked at Maggie again, everything inside him telling him to stick close to her. “Ward might even be involved.”
“Or covering for the person,” Zac added.
“Can we get individual bios for each of the victims?” Ryan asked.
Ethan dipped his head. “Already done.”
“Don’t forget that the blood on the rock was confirmed to be Nikki Bishop’s,” Joel said quietly.
“Ward won’t like us looking into this,” Ryan almost muttered. “We’ll be shining a light on the shit job he’s been doing as sheriff.”
“I don’t care what he thinks,” Ethan growled. “Every time that man finds a body and doesn’t rule it the homicide it is, every time a woman goes missing and he barely searches for her, he’s partially responsible.”
The door to Bloom opened and Gerome stepped in. He glanced over at Ethan and his team before smirking and heading their way.
Ethan locked his cell and leaned back in his chair, his muscles twitching, like he had to remind himself to stay the hell in his seat.
Gerome lifted a brow. “Hey, boys. What are y’all doing here?”
“Book club,” Ryan said sarcastically.
Gerome lifted a brow. “Huh. Which book?”
“You don’t strike me as someone who reads,” Joel said.
He scoffed. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“We know more than you think,” Ethan said quietly.
The next smirk from Gerome was almost taunting. “Like what?”
“You feel powerful, maybe even untouchable, because your father wears a badge,” Connor answered.
“You like to cause trouble because you have nothing better to do,” Joel added.
Ethan’s hands fisted under the table. “You start fires that you don’t think you’ll get caught setting.”
A ghost of a smile curved Gerome’s mouth. “Says a group of washed-up war junkies who think they know better than our long-standing sheriff.”
Ryan laughed. “There’s no comparison between your father and us. We actually give a shit about stuff.”
“Well, you enjoy giving a shit, and I’ll keep causing trouble and not getting caught.”
The second he moved away, Zac shook his head. “I fucking hate that guy.”
“I’m right there with you.” Ethan kept his gaze on Gerome until Maggie touched his back.
She smiled at him. “You guys still talking about super-secret SAR stuff?”
He tugged her onto his lap. “I could spare a break for you.”
“Really?”
“I always have time for you.”
She lowered her head and kissed him, and he was reminded of exactly what he’d gained by coming back here. A life with his team. A future with the woman he loved.
And now that he had it all, he was not willing to lose any of it. He was going to find the person behind these killings. He and his team wouldn’t stop until the person was dead or behind bars.